Economy to move towards self-reliance post coronavirus pandemic - Dr Bawumia

Ghana's economy is set to move towards becoming more self-reliant post the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President, Dr Bawumia has said.

According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led administration's vision for a 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda will alter the needed recovery after the pandemic.

Speaking at the GBC’s studios after the 2020 Virtual Eid-ul Fitr celebrations in Accra Sunday, Dr Bawumia said; “The President has already placed Ghana on a trajectory that allows us to come out of this crisis relatively quickly. As you know, the post-COVID economic architecture in the world is going to be one of countries that are going to be more self-reliant.

“You are going to look at self-reliance in food production, manufacturing and in services, that is really the Ghana Beyond Aid that the President started talking about way before this pandemic came into being. And so that trajectory that we have already embarked upon will allow us to recover from this pandemic much more quickly than probably other pandemics,”

Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) maintained its Monetary Policy Rate at 14.5 percent, in a bid to stabilize the cedi from depreciation.

The central bank also indicated the economy has since the first month of March 2020 entered a contraction phase after the country confirmed cases of coronavirus.

According to figures released by the BoG, the economy contracted by 2.2 percent in March 2020, as compared to a growth of 5.6 percent for the same period last year due to leading indicators of economic activity during the first quarter of the year.

These included a three week partial lockdown, restrictions on movement and social distancing measures introduced by government to curtail the spread of the virus.

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had warned that any further reduction of the current BoG Policy Rate will spell doom for the local currency which is facing depreciation against the major trading currencies.